The two in front held weapons ready, two behind scanners, the two behind them bio scanners and the two behind them sample and data retrieval. They all carried sturdy rifles and flashlights. The blast hole had penetrated through ten inches of metal, parting a series of wires and beams which emitted sparks every few seconds. Plunging into the ship, their cold boots echoed across a domain untouched by life since almost the beginning of time.

Casting glow sticks and lights around the area they got to work immediately, paying little attention to the sheer beauty of the sacred halls they had entered. The explorers took photos of the ancient scripture, bagged and stored exquisite artifacts, working in a clear and highly trained manner they collected samples of dust and dirt off of the floor, and chipped pieces of metal off of the wall with high-powered drills. Whatever essence of reality that could be grasped was stricken from the walls, pillaged, studied and planned to be sent to the bustling homeworlds of the species which pondered their creation.

Their thousands of academics would slave for generations deriving all fact, culture and emotions which can be found in the hollow objects. All quenching a thirst for knowledge, an ever-growing desire to discover, discover the stories of old and relive the existence of the dead.

The doors in the facility were ajar most likely a result of some sort of massive power failure, there were limited electronics in all of the rooms, and most were simply piles of objects each one bathing in expert craftsmanship and beauty, technology far more intricate than seen in the very halls of the Collective capital and outpacing the leagues of the present by miles of intellect and devotion. For example, an ancient rifle, humming with power even after over a millennium of neglect was quickly seized and cherished by the scientists and placed carefully into a coffin portrayed by a steel crate. Scripture and writing were quickly seized and carefully strewn into vacuumed containers as well, each bent page and torn corner to be studied.

The first hallway they encountered was solemn and uninviting, the artifacts interesting and soon devoured by the team, the metal floors smooth and polished allowing for each footstep to clang with immensity throughout the room. The next chamber was filled with writing, armour and boxes of technology, all far more advanced than the ingenious devices which now seemed brutal and clumsy in the eyes of their Kestle and Aquir masters. The armour was soon too dismantled and taken into the custody of the group, its refined and cultivated design was similar to what leaders would think to don the guards of the almighty. The next few rooms were similar, books, swords, pieces of medical equipment, frozen bottles, sealed metals, and walls covered in a startling and overpowering arsenal of guns and weapons.

There even was a large hangar, complete with three magnificent triangular ships, each unknown in design but seemed to be a mighty craft of war, if the Ominnion had faced them in the heat of battle it would be sure to perish in flames within a few meagre minutes. The flagship of the Kestle empire itself would pale to the sheer vanity of what lay in front. Climbing a series of metal grate stairs they passed rooms with inner workings incomparable, vastly alien and even small tool storage and living quarters.

The beds and food in the quarters were ghostly untouched, almost as if they were a precaution, built for a purpose but damned to lie dormant ever waiting for a species who had passed.

The final three areas are what interested the baffled creatures the most, first, Commander Quex approached an unopenable door, keypad damaged, it seemed the drone must have mistaken it for some kind of wall. Behind three inches of reinforced plexiglass were a massive terrarium and indoor garden. However these were was not the luscious and biblical gardens that would have been seen dominating the blissful world of this station's origin, inside were hoards of decomposed plants, sterile water and pitch-black darkness, some sort of storage facility could be seen inside so the leader ordered the glass to be smashed and the organisms harvested. It seems without the computer's life support the plants had perished in the sands of time. The rest of the doors on the hallway were all jammed shut, and having little time they decided to leave their secrets to perish in the collective’s bloodstained hands.

Positioning two soldiers behind to inspect and gather as much information as possible from the biological material he then entered a cold and versatile chamber, inside was a large lab-type creation, in which upon the walls lay thousands upon thousands of strange screens and scientific devices, in the middle was an operating table, full-body test tube and a series of workstations. All computers offline. Upon further examination, it was found that frozen embryos and genetic samples had been stored but all had been ruined in the power failure, the last chance of a species rebirth swept away by a few hours of neglect. Moving forward there was only one last room that was accessible, a vast chasm in the middle. Tossing a flurry of glow sticks and work lights ahead they penetrated the abyss and walked forward. The room was very large however most of its size was made up of a vaulted ceiling.

The floors and walls were all expertly crafted with bronze-coloured metal to form some kind of visage of ancient writing and hieroglyphics. In the exact center stood the power generator, a tall column of which thousands of cables spread, sprawling across the floor and above to invade the entire ship. The column was covered in various screens and buttons, even a glass panel could be seen on its exterior perhaps to see and monitor the source of the station. Around the room, various workstations and screens populated the area followed by countless tubes and ancient levers.

The engine had several cogs on each side, half of the cog showing to the expedition, the other half embedded in the floor. He soon sent two Aquir scientists to work on the generator, trying to bring it online in order to harvest the information. In the corner was the main workstation, a singular chair surrounded by controls with two stations on either side, perhaps for Captain and two crewmembers. The most interesting thing which came to the eyes of the Aquir was a series of eight pods that lined the farthest wall. At first, believed to be some form of cryogenics they sprinted forward and approached a tall smooth capsule with a window in the middle and several buttons on the steel side.

Whipping the foggy ice of the glass with his gloved hand he cleared the frost from his view and peered inside to see what looked like a magnificent suit of armour. About 6ft tall with a colour of blue, the armour caught the eye of all in the room. Yet this was no ordinary piece of armour, this was what looked to be like a full entourage donned by a humanoid species. The artifact was beautiful in almost every aspect, the eyes alluring with craftsmanship, its dignified and breathtaking design casting a shadow upon all the armours worn by the galaxy. It was the kind of armour one would kill for, just to cast a single glance upon its shell.

The kind of armour which would pass through the hands of societies for thousands of years, a blood treasure constantly being fought over and held as a symbol of status for any deity who dare take the danger of claiming it to be their own. The only fatal flaw in the beauty was a charred scorch mark on the back of the head which looked to be the result of the power failure. The armour was short-circuited and completely fried by the event. The rest of the pods all carried the same splendour and minute detail however upon examination only one of the eight figures was untouched by the calamity.

Having no way of contact with the outside ships due to some sort of immense distortion, Quex acted on his own command. Barking orders at a nearby Kestle Cadet he arranged for them to get the main engine online, taking out an array of scanners and tools they set to work. The power source was strange and completely unknown yet the tech was fairly simple, almost immensely simpler than Kestle’s. Inspecting the entire device with extreme care they pried open a side control panel and examined the gloomy inside.

“According to my calculations the device is not as complicated, it derives a substantial amount of power from a crystal located in the center, enough to power the station for at least a few more thousands of years” an Aquir noted as she prodded the wires inside with a sonic scanner.

"A thousand years from that crystal?" Quex shouted.

"Yes," the other replied.

"Amazing" he breathed.

“Is it possible to get it online? What is the problem?” another asked.

“It seems power is still flowing however the transverter is slightly bent along with server couplings. I do not have a replacement transverter however if we hook up one of our power cells to the engine we may be able to restore power for a short while, the battery will drain at a fast rate of course,” she replied

"How fast," he asked.

"Very, were looking at minutes here" she replied.

“Do it, and Aritis come over here and help me download these data files when it comes online, a single slicer should do the trick” he howled.

Aris edged forward, a metallic device in hand.

“Are you sure it's safe? We could enact a virus? Perhaps some form of robotic defence?” she questioned.

“Use just enough power to maintain the ship's basic functions, if anything pops up we will pull the plug,” he replied.

She plugged the device along with jumper cables into the engine, falling back to avoid a spurry of sparks as soon the entire structure sprung to life. A magnificent hum spread through the air as a purple glow came from the machine.

The lights flickered before illuminating the dark hallways. Nearby every workstation slowly booted, a hollow flicker of controls beaming through. The screens were all holograms and highly sophisticated however many were simple buttons and switches lighting up with the glee of a synthetic life finally fulfilling its purpose after years of incoherence.

“QUEN, WON ARK”

“QUEN, WON ARK”

“QUEN WON ARK”

An alarm blared through the air causing them to startle for a moment. Sliding under the main console and what seemed to be the captain's chair an Aquir slammed a clip into the panel and turned it on, slowly sucking information. In the meantime, another used the butt of her rifle to break open a metallic data drive and salvage what lay inside.

All with great haste, they were determined to seize as much as possible before the collective could lay their hands on it. The holograms were all the colour a dark blue and portrayed an unknown schematic of the ship, with strange symbols and numbers flurrying across the screen.

“Is there any way we can get that last armour pod open?.... Can anyone find ship logs?.... We don’t have much time?... "

"I'll try Captain" another cried.

"Tell everyone to gather as much data and artifacts as possible. We can put the pieces together once we leave, we may have to torch this place afterwards, this kind of technology could bolster The Collective” the commander yelled.

The paused for a moment, stunned at the suggestion.

“Yes Sir” they replied.

“Aion, can you get any signal through to our command?” he asked.

“No sir, the interference has heightened, it's almost like it has adapted to block our signals” the scientist replied.

"Keep trying, all else, we run a cable to the surface" he shouted.

Just as the data slowly drained from the computer the entire rock shifted.

“What was that?” one of them shouted

A microchip and data pack attached by the explorers to one of the consoles flashed orange and a master alarm went off.

“Sir, the data collector?, I think it's being hacked” a scientist replied.

"What? How?" the Captain lept over a console to inspect the machine.

Suddenly a soldier working on the pod with a series of drills and screwdrivers stood back in awe as it popped open. A hiss of gas pooled onto the floor and dissipated throughout the room.

Their leader screeched orders.

“Disconnect it and up the firewall, we don't want a virus... ”

“Yes sir!”

“Lauo Amazing work, get a crate over there now” Quex spoke excitedly and beamed.

The explorer backed away in horror walking over a cable, she slowly scanned the pod in awe.

“I don’t think it’s armour…” she said nervously.

From the swirling mist, a beautiful metal foot pierced the unknown stepping onto the hollow ground. Its blue eyes lit up and penetrated the fog of gas. Emerging from a deep slumber, it moved with elegance and ease uncanny to its species.

Backing away they stood face to face with the godly masterpiece, its blue colour shone through. Tilting its head, the creature cast a quick glance across the room. Striding forward it walked past a dumbstruck Lauo’s attempt to communicate and cautiously approached the engine.

“Sir?, I think it's attempting a repair…” a scientist said, hastily backing away from his spot on the survey.

“If it gets the main power online doors may function, I don’t think we have enough charges to blast our way out,” he replied

“How much data have you downloaded?” he asked

“About 40% Sir” an Aquir spoke.

“Great, pull the plug NOW” he shouted.

An engineer quickly disconnected the external battery attached to the engine and the entire ship slowly shook before fading away leaving only a series of glowsticks strewn throughout the room and the explorer's helmet lights to fight the darkness.

The robot bent down on one knee to the electrical panels level took out its hand and split its limb in two to produce a find laser cutter, taking its other hand it.

“Hello! Hello!, Azir, get the translator quick! I AM COMMANDER QUEX OF KESTLE SPACE CORE, this is Dr. Azir Oilo of The Aquir Empire, we come in peace, we found your vessel damaged and floating in space, we did not believe any form of life to be aboard, are you sentient life? Can we speak to your superior, greetings from our societies? Do you need help?” he asked.

No response came from the robot, it simply looked in the commander’s direction for a second before casting its glance upon the engines, then in a terrific flurry of movements in began to repair, slowly dismantling and reassembling the entire engine piece by piece, working at an inhuman speed it fashioned tools from its hands and paid no attention to its looming visitors.

“Translator?” Quex asked

“The thing hasn’t spoken yet? What am I supposed to do read its body movements?” he replied screaming.

“Engineer, how long until the robot reassembles the engine? Is it possible to disable him?” he asked

“I would say we have three minutes at best, in terms of attack, this seems to be the only active creature in the entire ship, I believe from analysis of firepower in the ship any assault would be unwise,” he responded.

“Lauo, lead the crew and evacuate, take what data you have, contact the ship when you're out of the interference zone.” he barked

Lifting his mouth to the communicator the commander calmly breathed in a quick string of sentences.

“All team members, evacuate immediately, I repeat evacuate immediately and prepare all information and ships for boarding, take what you can, but leave with your life, wait for me and all of us in the engine room at the barges for ten minutes once you have reached the ships, if you sense danger leave immediately, we have contact, I repeat we have contact.”

Now practically flailing his arms to get the robot’s attention, Quex repeatedly screamed messages of welcome and tried communicating by sounds, light and writing, all were futile in the robot’s wake.

“Sir, if it completes the repairs, we may not make it out, these doors? they .. they may not even be blastable,” an Aquir cadet spoke.

“Then we have no choice to stop it,” he replied

Finally, with a single wave of his hand, he reached for a blaster on his hilt and swiped the weapon forward. The rest of the explorers followed his actions with a swift raise of rifles. The robot then turned its head and stared up at its attackers.